Johnny Hart, creator of the comic strip B.C., which appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers worldwide, died at his home on on Saturday (April 7) at 76. His wife, Bobby, said he died at his storyboard after suffering a stroke. In addition to creating B.C. in 1958, Hart also co-created the strip Wizard of Id with Brant Parker. He is survived by Bobby and their two daughters, Patti and Perri. He drew his comic up until the day he died at a studio in his home in Endicott, NY, about 135 miles northwest of New York City.

Like his inspiration Charles Schultz, Hart loaned his characters to NASA for use on internal posters and decals promoting flight safety. His B.C. characters also appeared in Apollo 12's flight plan as a joke by the mission's support crew.

In 1972, Hart was recognized by NASA with a public service award for outstanding contributions.

Robert PearlmanEditor

Posts: 27327From: Houston, TXRegistered: Nov 1999

posted 04-10-2007 01:18 AM
A personal story...

On September 25, 2002, Hart ran a B.C. comic strip that included reference to Sally Ride as the first woman in space. The error was noted by Mike Quinn, who wrote about it on the Yahoo Astronauts Group.

Prompted by Quinn's post, I e-mailed Hart through the Creators Syndicate website, not really expecting a reply. Three days later, waiting in my inbox...

Re: Johnny Hart's BC comic strip - Sept. 2002 - "Sally Ride" error.

Looks to me like little Johnny forgot to do his homework and so did big Johnny (Hart that is).

The teacher has an obvious bias against the U.S.S.R. — which no longer exists — so I guess nobody did their homework. But what's important is — you did, and that's what keeps this ship on an even keel.

Thanks for paying attention but mostly for bringing it to to mine.

The e-mail was signed Johnny Hart.

413 is inMember

Posts: 397From: Alexandria, VA USARegistered: May 2006

posted 04-10-2007 01:33 AM

cspgMember

Posts: 4046From: Geneva, SwitzerlandRegistered: May 2006

posted 04-10-2007 01:51 AM
I love Wizard of Id and I didn't know the author's involvement in the space program.

E2M Lem ManMember

Posts: 793From: Los Angeles CA. USARegistered: Jan 2005

posted 04-10-2007 03:25 PM
Johnny Hart supplied his B.C. characters (and others, I am sure) to a lot of the press room kits as you can see from the above example. We knew this and tried to show these in "From the Earth to the Moon" episode on Apollo 13.

I also have an Apollo 14 decal in my collection.

p51Member

Posts: 771From: Olympia, WA, USARegistered: Sep 2011

posted 05-06-2012 10:43 PM
Does anyone know the story behind this? I just got some of these...

Editor's note: Threads merged.

J.LMember

Posts: 388From: Bloomington, Illinois, USARegistered: May 2005

posted 05-06-2012 10:44 PM
They are legit. Done for Apollo 13 and 14. "Wizard of Id".

p51Member

Posts: 771From: Olympia, WA, USARegistered: Sep 2011

posted 05-06-2012 10:44 PM
Good to know. Any idea how rare these are?

KSCartistMember

Posts: 2488From: Titusville, FL USARegistered: Feb 2005

posted 05-14-2012 04:01 PM
Thanks to this thread, I went looking through my collection and found the original decal at the top of this thread. Tonight, I'll scan it and post the image.